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0 pointsfbdab1032y ago0 comments

Big fan of WH40k as the exemplar of massive scale. This article[0] defines a super volcano as

>The size of volcanic eruptions can be expressed by the volume or mass of magma released (table 1), with super-eruptions yielding in excess of 450 km3, or more than 1×10^15 kg, of magma (Sparks et al. 2005).

Wikipedia says the Empire State Building has a volume of 1e6 m3 or 0.001 km3. So the eruption would be equivalent to at least 450,000 Empire State Buildings worth of magma. Mt Everest is some 90km3, so only 5 Mt Everest equivalents.

These amounts are too big for me to comprehend, but yeah. Going to need a bigger boat.

[0] https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsta.200...

0 comments

roenxi2y ago

Those numbers aren't that large. They aren't small in anyone's estimation, but the Empire State Building is a lot less than the amount of material a motivated earthmoving company can get through in a year.

There'd be some interesting technical challenges tearing down Everest, but it is conceivable. The part that requires creative thinking is why it would be worth it spending that much money.

kabouseng2y ago

Except that volume gets released with an eruption, not over a year...Imagine 5 mount everests lifting up into the air and coming down at the same time.

suzzer992y ago

To build the Panama Canal, excavators removed enough spoil to fill a city block 19 miles high.

mckn1ght2y ago

You all are talking quantitatively about volumes, but there’s also the qualitative difference between soil and magma.

danbruc2y ago

1800 Panama Canals still sound like quite a lot of work.

beAbU2y ago

But how many school buses is that?

clarionbell2y ago

That's exterminatus scale of explosion. Well, one cyclonic torpedo maybe.

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